


Leaving Home Behind

by ObtuseOctopus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Military, Apocalypse, F/F, F/M, Gen, Post-Apocalypse, Pre-Apocalypse, Women in the Military
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2020-06-26 14:21:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19770037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObtuseOctopus/pseuds/ObtuseOctopus
Summary: In a world much akin to the Last of Us, where the Cordyceps fungus has begun infecting mankind, the question is; who is more dangerous? Humanity or the infected?Having been abandoned and left to fend for herself, Lapis Saraiva struggles with trying to protect her daughter in the apocalyptic world as well as live to see another day. When she discovers something about her daughter that attracts the attention of unwanted guests, she must make the decision to risk it all or risk her own child for either her own sake or for humanity's.





	1. Prologue

"How's training going?"

"Bah. Could be better. It's hot and the food is horrible. Ya know, we use peanut butter as a dessert."

"... Peanut butter."

"You don't exactly get a sundae in the middle of a desert, Lapis."

"Yeah. But... Peanut butter?"

"Are you laughing at me?"

"No, no. I'm laughing with you." Lapis kept the phone held to her ear as she finished doing the dishes, a bit grateful that there was less to do now that her wife was out in military training.

"That's funny, because I'm not laughing." It only lasted momentarily before Jasper couldn't hold it in and burst into a snicker on the other end.

"Liar," Lapis called out. "Drop and give me twenty for that."

"Don't even joke about that, the sergeant gets all douchey like that when you don't hit a target." Jasper deepened her voice a little as she mocked an imitation, "Stop and give me twenty, sergeant Quartz. I saw you earlier put your boots on four seconds slower than everyone else!"

"Wow. You sound just like him," Lapis assured, wiping the last plate clean and putting it away.

"I know I do," Jasper grinned, frowning when she had been told she had five more minutes left to make a call. "How's-"

"Blobfish? Yeah. Doing great," Lapis responded before Jasper could even finish. "Go me. Almost done with the first trimester. Throwing up every morning is amazing. I love it. It gurgles in your throat and you can taste-"

"Oh Jesus, Lapis, stop, that's _disgusting_."

"Really?" Lapis huffed smugly. "Then let me go on about-"

"No no no, oh my god, _stop_ ," Jasper begged.

"Hey, _you're_ the one who said you wanted a baby," Lapis innocently hummed. "Got problems? Blame the donor and your decision of who gets pregnant, don't blame me."

"Donor, pah. I could've handled it myself if I had a dick."

"What do you mean you aren't already a dick?" Lapis exaggerated a gasp, adjusting the phone a bit nestled between her shoulder and head. "Are you saying that if you had a dick, that all those nights in bed you would've-"

"Laaapis-"

"I'm teasing. _Baby_ ," Lapis smirked.

"You better be. Or I'm gonna lather you with so many kisses, that your face is gonna turn blue," Jasper teased back. "I gotta go. If I don't, I'm gonna get an ass whoop."

"Alright, _baby_. Let me know when you need more diapers down in Texas," Lapis kept mocking.

"And you let me know when 'Blobfish' gives you trouble. I'll sue the clinic for giving my wife the wrong sperm donor," Jasper boasted.

"Whatever you say," Lapis shrugged. "Night."

"Good night," Jasper replied. "See you in a few months." She waited a bit. "... No 'I love you'?"

"Eh. Been thinking and I don't really love you, it's more of a _I can stand you_ thing," Lapis sarcastically commented.

"Lapis-"

"Alright, sheesh. You really do need some diapers over there. Ask the sergeant for some, he probably has plenty. Good night, I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

And with that, Lapis hung up the phone. She glanced over at the time, ten thirty PM, and ran a hand through her dyed blue hair. The dishes were done and laundry would be done tomorrow, so now she could rest in peace.

She headed upstairs to retreat to her room after turning off the lights, eventually making herself comfortable in her bed with the sheets freshly washed and still warm from the dryer. With a content sigh, Lapis snuggled in, lying down on her side with the side of her face in the pillow.

* * *

It sounded like the world had suddenly amplified. A loud **boom** rang through the neighborhood, immediately stirring Lapis awake. Her eyes were hazy and her body was still exhausted from being woken up mid slumber, yet she forced herself to haul out of bed to see what the fuss was about. In the distance, in the smog-filled city of Empire City, a faint golden glow shone bright, like a fire in the night.

Confused, dazed, and most of all tired, Lapis rubbed her eyes before continuing on, going downstairs to check her phone after turning on a light. Three missed calls, and a mandatory emergency text that had been sent out by emergency services. She opened the text rather cautiously.

_**** This is an automated message for all residents within the Delmarva area and approximately three states in each direction of the state**_.  _ Stay in your homes and do not panic. Avoid large cities, and other huge places of gathering. A recent outbreak has been reported in your area, and it is best that you lock all doors and windows and stay put. Active immediately. ** _

Had she read this right? An _outbreak_? Lapis was lost. So, she went to go turn on the television, surfing through the channels until she came to the news channel.

_ Recent reports state that an outbreak of a fungus has mysteriously began affecting and changing victims, known as Cordyceps virus, nobody is sure of where this infection came from and why. Sources state it originated from Empire City Hospital, while treating a patient, doctors noted how the patient became violent and even bit a nurse, taking a large portion of her arm off like a savage animal. Infected have been stated to have bloodshot eyes, make primal noises, and attack anything that isn't infected. The government suggests to stay indoors and lock all means of entry, and stay out of- _

Another loud boom had sounded from the far distance. And as Lapis turned back to the television, she realized that the channel had gone static. Frantic, she checked back to her phone, beginning to text Jasper. Her heart was racing. What was going on? Calls missed were sent to her by neighbors, and Jasper... Jasper would be awake by now in her timezone, but out training so she wouldn't get an immediate response. Fuck-!

Doing her best not to panic, Lapis sent a call to one of her neighbors, Pearl.

"Pearl- god, what's going on? It's like two in the morning...-" Lapis began as soon as the phone had been answered, but Pearl was talking over her.

"Lapis! Oh goodness, you need to get out of the neighborhood right now. We're too close and-"

"Pearl, what's-?"

"Trust me! Listen, you need to get out. You need to start driving out of the city before traffic...-" Pearl's voice faded like she had gone distant for a second before returning. "Never mind. There's traffic for miles. Everybody had the same idea! To leave and go to places with less activity-"

"Pearl! Shut up and tell me, what is going on?" Lapis demanded. "... Pearl? ... PEARL?" She listened for a bit, noting the sound of someone grunting on the other end. When the phone call ended on her, she cursed under her breath, then ran around making sure everything was locked.

It was too damn early for this shit, and too damn sudden. This outbreak nonsense and this... what had sounded like explosions stuff... Lapis peered out one window into the night, then pulled away and closed the curtains. She was defenseless, alone, and pregnant. And if the outbreak crap was true, then she was easy prey.

Thus, Lapis started searching for anything that could be considered a weapon, ultimately ending up with a knife from the kitchen. She needed to know what was going on. Checking her phone again, she was bummed to find out it had no signal. What else could go wrong?!

Lapis began to do her best in barricading the door although she still had little idea of what exactly was going on outside of some outbreak junk, the knife held close and her eyes and ears on high alert. God, why did Jasper have to be gone now?! And all of this, at two in the morning!

The neighbor's dog, King, was barking like crazy. If the dog was there, then hopefully that meant Lapis wasn't alone in her neighborhood, unless the owners had left it behind. And... a few moments of barking eventually lead to dead silence. The dog had stopped entirely. Perhaps he had just been barking at a squirrel or someone walking down the street...

Deciding to take another look out her window, Lapis' hand holding the kitchen knife was trembling. This had to be a bad dream. This was too surreal to even be happening right now...-

Her thoughts cut off when she heard something lumbering outside, as if somebody was dragging someone behind them and was lazily crashing into everything as they walked. One thump indicated that whoever it was had bumped into her fence, and that only further warned her to stay where she was. Straining to see through the dark of night, Lapis did her best to see what or who it was.

And regretted it.

The eerie shape of a human being was walking like a maniac down the street just outside her house. It hadn't spotted her nor seemed fazed by the light coming from her house, it just itched its head and then stopped to make a few curdling noises as its body jerked, then continued on its way.

It was _hunting._

And luckily, she hadn't been seen. But what she had seen looked straight out of a horror movie. Why did the person even have some sort of odd plants or fungus or something growing from their head?

As Lapis kept watching, her heart stopped as she realized the neighbor across the street had exited their house, trying to get to their vehicle, assuming that they was going to flee like Pearl presumably had been attempting to do. They were making too much noise with her keys. And that caught the attention of the lumbering human shape in the street. It turned, spotted the other, and made a wild dash towards them. Lapis' eyes widened as she froze in her spot, helpless as the monster released a flurry of grunts and shrieks like the ones she had heard when she had called Pearl, and the beast had immediately bit into the neighbor's neck, puncturing a major vein judging by how loud the screams of its victim were. That was enough proof for Lapis. She pulled the curtains back over the window, and her breath caught in her throat. Fear pooled in her chest. Jasper... god-! At a time like this, she was gone-!

She had to leave this place. She had to at least _try_. And, she had to avoid busy intersections and avoid streets that were flooded with cars of people who had the same idea. She needed to go. For the sake of herself, and for the sake of her baby. Lapis waited until the monster outside was busy devouring away at the poor neighbor, then slowly and steadily did her best to try and leave her house, using the backdoor and back gate. She had her car keys with her as well as her phone and the knife, and her eyes stayed put watching the creature across the street. Slowly... but surely... Eventually she finally made it to the blue van, and didn't hesitate in quickly getting it, shutting the door.

Which, unluckily attracted the attention of the bloodthirsty beast. It turned around, ignoring its feast, and began trying to prowl around in search of the noise. Lapis frantically hurried, inserting the keys and starting up the car, rushing as she pulled out of the driveway, once more attracting the creature who began running her way. She didn't hesitate to start driving away as soon as she was in the street, losing sight of the monster behind her car as she sped off.

Whatever was going on wasn't good. And whatever was going on...

This meant that the time for humanity was up and the world was now commencing its own purge in the beginning of the end.


	2. Beginnings

**\- Twelve years later -**

* * *

Age had scathed her face, revealing the female of the species to be more deadly than the male. Scratches and bruises from recent past encounters marked her body like ruin, and her hair was oily to the brim like sewer splurge. Deprived from the society that used to be a community, lacking moral direction with only instinctive sensation, she knew to endure and survive at no matter the cost; move like a shadow, make it to tomorrow, never to trust a too friendly fellow.

The military had made their own little quarantine zones for civilians who weren't infected, like hallucinations of safe spaces in a damned world. She hadn't been able to grab a hold of any of her relatives, and for all she knew, they could all be dead. The only relative she knew to be alive was her daughter, growing up in the new age where murder was defensive and where fear was a parasite.

Lapis wiped her face as she sat up in the dirtied bed sheets, having woken up a few moments ago in order to be on time for her morning shift. Everyone no matter their excuse, had to cooperate and dedicate some time into cooperation or face extinction like other quarantine zones that had fallen in the hands of death or infected. She grunted as she rubbed her forehead, then stood up and went to go grab her uniform off of the drawer.

It would've been nice to have a shower but... things had gone to shit. She hated smelling like absolute garbage that had been laid out to dry on a hot summer day but there wasn't much of a choice. Unless the infected carried Febreeze on them which would be... unlikely. Lapis straightened out her uniform after she had changed into it, her gaze glancing over at the other bed in the room where her daughter was sleeping soundly. Malachite, or 'Kite' as she was nicknamed, was basically born into the apocalypse. Tiny and underweight, Lapis honestly thought that she wouldn't have made it. Yet somehow she survived and... now they were here.

Lapis took a moment to stroll on over to her daughter's side, watching the soft rising and falling of her child's chest as she breathed in her sleep, looking so serene. She reached out with one delicate hand to gently brush back the dark brown hair in her daughter's face, examining and admiring the other's features; hair like chocolate waves, eyelashes like long feathers, a nose as broad as a shark's snout, and skin a dark tan with slices of stripes and patches in paler streaks like a bicolored kitten. There was no doubt that parts of herself were inherited, as well as...- Despite being the product of... complicated backgrounds...-

... She had to go now or risk less ration cards. Lapis forced herself to look and pull away, feeling as if her bones had hardened into rock just to weigh her down. She checked to make sure she had her identification cards, made sure that Kite had her own identification card on the drawer they shared as well as two ration cards in case she got hungry, then headed out of the room. Lapis closed the door after entering the hallway of the living quarters, spotting another military ally who was also making her way down to her shift.

Keeping her hands in the pockets of her uniform, she held her head high and then approached the other as they neared the staircase. "Another crappy night shift?" Lapis questioned Holly, beginning to head down the staircase.

Holly, her hair white with age and her face stained with a fixation of stern attitude, raised a brow at Lapis. "Crappy isn't the word I'd describe it," she replied, heading down with Lapis. "A shift the night before an early shift is what I would consider to be an honor. It means the military has taken notice of your loyalty and devotion to the cause, trusting you to keep guard over its civilians."

Lapis scoffed. "Or they want to wear you down to use as Clicker bait later," she mocked in a nonchalant tone. She felt Holly cast a glare at her full of disapproval, but ignored it with a small shrug. "Tell those guards that they still haven't given me the ration card they owe me for checking the perimeter outside of my normal shift hours."

Holly stopped when they had reached the bottom of the staircase, fixing her outfit like a picky peacock. "Perhaps if you were more cooperative and approachable, they'd have given it to you by now," she sassed back. Lapis stayed deadpan in her expression, passing Holly to open the door that led to the outside world.

"My daughter _needs_ it," Lapis reasoned, waiting until Holly had stepped out before going outside as well, closing the door behind her.

"Your daughter could use some of the starvation, it's good for training to survive in a deficiency and to keep the extra weight off her bones," Holly mumbled.

"You're okay with a child _starving_?" Lapis growled back, her shoulders perked slightly like the raised hackles of an agitated cat.

Holly hummed under her breath, as if enjoying the reactions she was prodding out of Lapis. The duo nonetheless headed down the street that was lined with tall buildings left and right, until they came to the checkpoint that guarded the wall that divided the zone from the wilderness beyond the quarantined city. Lapis lost her aggressiveness in favor of appearing less tense, bringing out her identification guard to show to the guard stationed at the checkpoint.

Once checked in, Lapis put away her identification card in the pocket of her uniform, then took to her position just outside the wall perimeter after taking the weapon and helmet that she had been given. She kept the gun pointed down, leaned back against the wall, and glared at Holly who had taken to her position a bit farther down from her by the wall border as well. Holly noticed her staring, and gave a firm glare back in silent loathing.

This was going to be one long shift.

* * *

Lapis had returned to her room in the living quarters building later that day just before dusk, with one ration card in hand. She stepped into the room after opening the door, and threw off her uniform onto her bed. Kite had been busy messing with a few old and worn down toys that her mother had found for her, and she turned her attention to her parent when Lapis had returned exhausted.

"Use any ration cards?" Lapis asked her daughter with a sigh, looking over at her.

Kite shook her head. "The food's gone."

"Again?"

"They said shipment comes next week."

"This is the third time-" Lapis stopped herself before she could start a cussing fit.

"It's okay, mom. All they have anyway is stuff I don't like," Kite tried to assure.

Lapis shook her head. "In the apocalypse, you eat what you can," she argued gently. "You survive."

"I hate surviving."

Lapis sighed. "... Me too, Kite. Me too," she agreed. "Why don't you get some sleep? You could go out tomorrow in the zone... check out the alley or something."

* * *

And as the next morning came, Kite didn't know what was more weird; the people in the alley or how her mom had nicknamed her Kite from Malachite. The alley was the place in the quarantine zone where citizens in the zone came together and held little shops and stuff out of the eyes of the military. They sold fried rat, sold dogs, sold trinkets, sold weapons, and also held fights. Although most were rude and also scary, some of the people liked her and were nice to her because she was one of the few adolescents in the zone. And she hadn't come from a military boarding prep, whatever that was.

Nonetheless, she still liked the alley. She always went when she could. Even if she had no friends, she liked the dogs being sold for ration cards.

Kite had gone to the chain link fence that contained the pups as soon as she snuck into the alley, and didn't take long before she was cooing and making faces at the tiny pit bulls and terriers on display in the cage.

"Six ration cards, kid," the man that ran the dog selling business grunted. He had a beard that was like a caterpillar on his chain, and a brow so thick that Kite thought he would lose his face in it.

"I don't wanna buy a dog," Kite innocently admitted. "I like looking."

"Looking ain't buying," the man pointed out. "Get lost, before you get hurt."

Kite frowned, then waved goodbye to the dogs as she backed away. So much for that! She blew a raspberry then went to go see what else was going on, spending her day browsing and running about while her mother was away on border duty.

* * *

Lapis arrived late as usual to the room they called home. She put her uniform away and had changed into something lighter and more casual, even if clean laundry was scarce. Kite was already asleep, and she noticed that one ration card was missing, leaving three remaining. Kite must have used it either on a fried rat in the alley or something. Nonetheless, Lapis had taken a seat upon her bed, and then gazed up at the ceiling.

She was thinking of back when life used to be simple, when people grilled hamburgers and the kids played in the sprinklers. The life that Kite would never experience but always hear about in stories. Life used to be so... easy. Now it was a battle to survive.

Tomorrow, her patrol shift was near more of the outskirts, away from the wall. She was going to hate it... but, she was ready. Anything for Kite.


	3. Disappearance

Another day of work and another day of dread. Another day of living, and another day of mourning. Survival was first priority. The military was draining her energy with each passing second. Yet Lapis didn't complain, and she didn't dare speak back as she knew that it would only be met with either a public hanging or a bullet in her skull. As far as she was concerned, she was a mother, and the survival of her own child depended on her own survival. She needed to pull through with all amount of bullshit. Any amount of crap. And all amount of hell.

As another shift came, she had gotten ready as usual up in the morning, neglecting any basic hygienic needs yet again as she lacked the usual materials such as a hairbrush or a working bath in times like these. It would be only in dreams that she would get a new pair of socks or a toothbrush, mints for her mouth and warm running water.

She made sure to put on a pair of boots that weren’t so worn, as well as a light sweater that smelled like earthly sulfur to keep warm during her shift. Lapis gave a sympathetic glance over at her sleeping daughter, then stepped forth to apply a kiss to the youth’s forehead. Afterwards, she began to leave, double checking to make sure she had her identification on her. If she was lucky? She’d get the ration cards that she was owed at last, if not given yet another bullshit excuse. 

Closing the door softly, her breath caught in her throat. The outskirts of beyond the borders was always rumored to have murders of infected lying about. And though unafraid of the monsters, her fear was more deeply rooted in if she ever lost the other half of herself. Her daughter would grow up to begin training very soon here in the quarantine zone. And if she wasn’t strong enough, or if the military didn’t see her fit, or if she slipped up, if her gun trigger got stuck…

Ever so reluctantly did Lapis pull away from the door, and she trudged down the halls. Holly was nowhere to be seen, and it could be strongly assumed that she was either not yet on shift or already was there. The sun wasn’t even up yet, as it was still peeking through clouds, working its way up into the sky like a baby learning to crawl. The streets still carried their eerie memories of cars that once maneuvered over the black surface, the quarantine zone quiet as always before the afternoon. 

Lapis showed her identification card to the guards posted at the checkpoint once she had walked up to it, granted permission to pass the gates. She then made her way over to the small building within the little area of the corralled gate, grabbing her uniform and weapons off the wall after passing some more posted guard. Once donned in a helmet and an assault rifle with a flashlight attached, as well as a blue outfit bearing body armor underneath, she started to head towards the last main gate.

Holly was still nowhere to be spotted. Perhaps she didn’t even have a shift today. But there was a small assemble of some other people already dressed and waiting for the last of their party to join, Lapis being one of them. She kept her gun pointed down in a peaceful gesture, and stood among the group.

They didn’t even depart until the sun had actually risen. The chosen soldiers headed off on foot, passing the metal gate that would indicate their passing through the quarantine and into the untamed. Lapis had only been on a patrol like this a few times in the years that she resided here. They weren’t pretty either. There was always the imminent dangers of the infected or even bordering enemies like rebellions and hunters, people who wanted to survive as badly as them but in different ways.

Had she ever killed a  _ person _ ? Someone who wasn’t infected, someone who lost their humanity in favor of insanity in order to stay alive in this country of atrocity? … Yes. She had. And she wasn’t proud of it. But survival required the gruesome and gritty parts of life too if she wanted to thrive.

“Saraiva, front left,” the leader of this patrol, a man whose voice was like hoarse rainwater, ordered. Lapis moved her formation in accordance, staying close to the knit in belief that number was stronger in war and that they needed to keep watch over each other’s back. “Richardson, middle right. Porter, front center.”

As the formation settled its shape, the group ventured farther away from the familiar grounds of the territory around their quarantine zone, exploring the wilder parts of the neighboring lands. If luck be on their side, they would discover some supplies to take back and be able to return to their beds without any trouble.

“What does the governor want us out here for?” A woman asked from the back. The group made their way into ruined buildings and overgrown greenery, eyes alert and senses high as they swept through the decaying remains of the city. It wasn’t a far walk, but it was still feral when compared to the quarantine zone.

“Reports of Fireflies.” The leader shone their flashlight over a dark spot of the crumbled building they stepped into, boots heavy against old stone. 

“Fireflies? Brainwashed fuckers again?” Another member mumbled.

“I didn’t believe it either. But Walters found this on his last patrol.” The leader stopped to dig out a chain necklace from his pocket, displaying the item to the patrol. It was the key identification of a rebel- the necklace of a Firefly. 

“So they are still out there…”

“This far out? What are they doing?”

Lapis knows she had heard of the name at least twice before in her life here in the wastelands. Fireflies; people who believed that there was still hope for humanity to mend, people who believed that they could find a cure and look for the light in the dark of the apocalypse. It honestly sounded like a religious cult the way that they were described to her. They spray painted their stupid mottos and propaganda on near every wall they traveled past, and attacked quarantine zones to gain new recruits to brainwash or steal supplies from.

She bit her bottom lip, checking out her surroundings as she kept her gun at her side and stuck awfully close to the patrol.

“I haven’t seen one with my own eyes, but this necklace is solid proof. It was collected four days ago after someone reported a Firefly hanging around the capitol building.” The leader put away the belonging, urging the group onward.

“Who knows, maybe they got killed.”

Some of the patrol laughed.

Lapis was quiet however, holding her tongue. She suddenly paused, holding up her arm at an angle. One of the other patrol members noticed and copied her, followed by another until everybody was doing the same gesture. Not a word further was said, and any chuckles had been ceased.

In the distance, faintly, an echoing groan and click sounded. It was the same sound that Lapis had heard first before anyone else. And not to brag, but she could guess that if she wasn’t on this patrol? Everyone wouldn’t have picked up on the clicking in time due to their chortle and mockery of the Fireflies. It wasn’t that far either, it was coming from one of the small rundown stores ahead.

The leader of the patrol motioned forth two of the strongest people, pointing towards the source of the noise. He afterwards gestured the rest to investigate the area, to make sure that nothing else was lurking around let it be alive or infected.

Lapis was among the few that were assigned to investigate for more enemies. She watched the duo sent to take out the clicking noise, waiting to see what would happen for a few seconds. Once she had grown bored of observing the two slowly creeping towards the enemy, she relied on paying attention to her surroundings again. There was no new sounds, so that had to be a good sign.

The piercing beat of gunshots suddenly pierced the air. It was followed by a squeal, then a thump. Lapis recognized it to be the victorious death of the clicking noise.

“... That’s the last of him.”

Lapis slowed to a stop, her gun raised. No more clicking… She hesitated before she lowered her weapon.

“Let’s check west and east. Then, we’ll head back if we find nothing,” the leader announced once the team had reassembled in front of what used to be a subway shop close by. Getting back to her former position in the patrol, Lapis mentally prepared for quite the travel, her eyes and ears open.

* * *

She had returned in the late afternoon, when the sun was high and the temperature was warm. Lapis was back to wearing her sweater and she no longer bore the armor and gun, granted some rest after her work. And finally? She had been given some ration cards. … Two to be precise. The military  _ still _ owed her four. It was bullshit.

But did she complain? No. Did she bring it up to anybody and cause a fuss? No.

Lapis was smart. She knew better. And so she forced herself to feel grateful that she had been given any ration cards at all. She trekked up to the room that was known as hers after she entered the old building, her legs strong as they carried her up the stairs. When she opened the door and let herself into her room, Kite was nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps she had gone to the alley to check out what other survivors here were offering or to go play with the few kids here her age. Hence, she wasn’t too worried about it. For now anyway.

But little did she know, she  _ should  _ be worried.

Because what she didn’t know was that the military was growing tired of partaking in helping raise some defenseless children and gaining no benefit out of it. Kite hadn’t been enrolled in any military school either because Lapis was a bit too paranoid of if something would go wrong. All Kite knew if anything when it came to surviving was how to reload a gun and shoot a BB, taught to her by her mother. Kite was growing older. And a kid her age at almost thirteen was going to need to become some sort of soldier if not fully another weapon for the quarantine zone subjected to unjust labor.

A few hours had passed. Lapis took the opportunity to have a small nap. Her bones were still aching when she had awoken when the moon was reigning the sky, pitch black outside where the moonlight did not touch.

Groggily, Lapis peered around to see if Kite has come back yet.

… She was nowhere to be seen.

“Mm… Kite?” Lapis murmured, rubbing her eyes. She gradually sat up on the bed. “How was the alley today? … Kite?” She called yet again, squinting. No sign of anybody on the other bed. 

Silence.

Now she was beginning to panic.

“Kite?!”

Her body awoke faster than a jackrabbit’s heart beating on stone. Lapis slipped out of bed, investigating the entire room.

“Kite?! KITE?”

Nothing.

Kite wasn’t back, and curfew was bound to already be in place, which the military enforced strictly.

“KITE?!”

When her final gasp went unanswered, and still no sign of her daughter, Lapis reacted on instinct.

She did the unthinkable.

Although she knew the punishments should be found outside during curfew, a mother’s love knew no boundaries.

She didn’t even waste time as she made haste, opening the door and exiting her room.


	4. Taken

Kite knew about the curfew within these walls, the time that the bigger people of this place would request citizens to retreat to their dorms or wherever else they stayed for their own safety until the morning rose again. Or so how she had been told numerous times by her mother. So when she was beginning to catch the sight of dwindling sunbeams just over the remains of the tall buildings in the zone, she felt a twinge of unease settle into her system. Her mother wouldn’t like if she stayed out late, neither did she ever stay out late to actually see the sun set.

The sky looked so pretty too. Never before had she ever seen so many… colors. Pinks and purples, smooth and vibrant. Golden hues would roll in to mix with the palette, creating a masterpiece that she could only witness to believe. Her young eyes were in awe, admiring the peace and prosperity of beauty that remained in even the darkest of times when all of humanity was at war with itself. Though she still found that to be an odd concept; having been born into this state of the world, she didn’t know of times where there was ice cream trucks and backyard barbecues and stores littered with kids begging their parents for a candy bar. She had been born into the beginning of destruction, the fray of declination in sanity. To her, the sunset was the closest that she would ever get to the days when fear wasn’t as widespread and there existed little pain and misery. It was like a faded photograph, a shadow of what could have been should the infection never have occurred. 

She hadn’t used a ration card today- thinking of her mother and wanting her to be able to get something if she was hungry. Kite rarely saw her eat. Sometimes she worried about it, even if her mother insisted that she was fine and didn’t need anything. There was a rule of thumb to remember; three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, and three weeks without food, as she had been told.

“Do you know your father, kid?” The voice in the front of the military van spoke up, and only then did Kite snap back into reality. She had been minding her own business wandering among the alleyway where other members of the zone came to mingle, and then suddenly? People had begun to move to the sides, and in marched a small trio consisting of armored men and women. Her mother always warned her of stranger danger, but these people who invaded the harmless alley were military, surely she could trust them? They had also nonetheless shoved her into this vehicle after hauling her out, not explaining a word of what was going on precisely. They also had grabbed two other kids around her age who were also in the alley, and she still remembered the terrified looks and calls that their mothers gave as if they realized something. It made Kite tremble. She didn’t know what was going on or what was happening, her only distraction being the sight of the sun setting high above past her window now after some hours of being holed up. She had never been in a vehicle before either, when it first moved, she had tensed up like a possum playing dead.

“... No,” Kite answered honestly. She didn’t know her father. All she knew was her mother, and she never mentioned anybody else. So she never even knew what having another parental figure was like. Was it exciting? Or just the same only with another voice to heed?

There were two other kids in the vehicle with her, sitting on either side of her. One had blonde hair, and the other had curly hair. 

“You look cool,” the girl with the blonde hair commented as she stared at Kite. Kite blinked, taken aback and dumbfounded.

“Um…” Kite nervously shuffled in place. The vehicle was still moving, taking them somewhere unknown. And although she could be a bit thankful after some time of sitting in silence with nothing happening, now that something may finally be occurring, she wished that she was still sitting in silence, with nothing to do and no idea of how to pass the time. The inside of this vehicle was becoming very familiar to her, down to the last seam in the leather seat.

“Hush it back there. When we get up to this checkpoint, state your name, your place of current residence, and your parents and age. If you remember who they are and when you were born,” the one driving spoke up again. Kite couldn’t see their face, but she had to guess them to be female by the voice.

Kite was so lost. Did her mother know about this? She looked at the other two kids, holding her hands in her lap as she nervously tried to keep herself calm as the vehicle kept driving onward. She didn’t know what was going on, but she could also guess that it was something bad.

The moon was starting to shine out through her window. It was getting awfully late and way past curfew.

* * *

“Kite?! KIIIITE!!”

Lapis found herself running down the halls, knocking and asking every other resident about if they had seen her daughter. She ended up ticking off a lot of people with the ruckus that she was making, but nobody would understand how  _ fearful _ she was. Kite would  _ never _ be gone so late like this, she knew better!

If she didn’t stop soon, someone was bound to make a noise complaint. But she kept roaming and asking around, desperate to find the only other person that she had left on the husk of this planet.

_ Jasper… please, god if you’re out there watching over her… please lead her back home to me…! _

Her silent pleas would go unheard, for there existed no god and no mercy upon the wreck of what used to be, but Lapis was faced with the dilemma of knowing not much else to do. She came to the last door on the same floor as her own room, and knocked effortlessly. She was growing exhausted, worried and overworked already about the absence of her daughter.

A few seconds had past before the door that she had knocked on opened up, revealing a younger woman with short dirty blonde hair. “May I help you?” She huffed, leaning to one side.

“It’s my daughter- have you seen her?” Lapis asked hopefully. “She has brown hair, her eyes-“

“Haven’t seen any around here, ma’am.”

“Fuck…” Lapis cursed under her breath, a hand over her head. She would have to try the next floor then. But as she began to turn away, she paused upon hearing heavy boots coming down the hall. Someone either made a noise complaint, or the military got fed up with the commotion and had sent someone to investigate. If she didn’t act, she would most likely be labeled crazy then taken away, never to see her daughter again for sure. “God- let me in. Just for a second. Please,” she requested as she faced the woman again.

“It’s late, and it’s past curfew.”

“I know, but please-“ Lapis felt her heartbeat quicken faster than Secretariat on a horse track, “- just for a moment, until the guard passes.”

The woman gave a suspicious look. Then reluctantly stepped aside. Lapis didn’t hesitate in entering the room that she was being allowed into, and the other woman calmly closed her door once Lapis was in. “You’re looking for a kid? What happened?”

Lapis sighed, collecting her breath. “Yes… my daughter.”

“Yeah, heard that.” The stranger nodded, scratching at her blue shirt before she sat on her bed. Their room looked to be in the same boring shape as Lapis’ own, granted nobody could simply go and purchase any decor or keep the place as clean as they would like. They had to work with what they had. “How did it happen?”

“I- I don’t know. I came back from patrol and she was gone.”

The woman’s eyes went wide before relaxing. “Aw geez… was it a morning patrol?”

“Yes,” Lapis said, remaining standing and keeping a small amount of distance. “... Why?”

The woman sighed. “The military knows what they’re doing. Last I saw them pull a stunt was with Carnelian. She was twelve back then, and I was sixteen.”

“What… what are you saying?” Lapis asked for clarification.

“The military put you on morning patrol as a distraction, ma’am. They wanted you out of the way.”

Lapis swore her blood ran cold. 

“They took your daughter.”

“No… they wouldn’t…-“ Lapis said in disbelief.

“How old is she?”

“Twelve, she’s almost thirteen in two months-“

“Yeah. Then they took her alright. If they’re at an age when they can begin training, they get taken to another zone. I was lucky. I was old enough to stay and train with the older kids.”

“You’re kidding…”

“Am not, ma’am. Wish I was.”

Lapis choked back a gasp. The military set her up by putting her on that patrol, killing two birds with one stone. The very same organization that had sworn to protect its citizens, had backstabbed her viciously by playing with fire taking her daughter like that.

“Hey, ah- name’s Jasper by the way. Rodriguez. But my friends call me Skinny,” the woman introduced herself, offering a hand out. Lapis froze at the name, as well as due to newfound shock of what had happened. 

“Jasper…?” Lapis echoed, the name like a golden bell hung in her heart. 

“Yeah, my parents named me after the wildlife park. At least that’s what they told me before they got placed in a new zone when I was... nineteen? Some years ago...” Jasper- or Skinny as she was so called, informed. “What about you?”

“Lapis. Lapis Saraiva,” Lapis murmured back. She was half out of it, more focused on the fact that her daughter was gone. And if what Skinny was saying was true, then she had to get moving fast. “Look, it was great meeting you but-“

“Buuut you have to go find your kid,” Skinny finished. “Yeah, I get it.”

“Exactly.”

Skinny gestured her head toward her window. “I’m not one for breaking the law, especially with Holly, but… my window goes down to a fire escape. You need to get out of this building? Then my window should do the trick.”

Lapis couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This woman was helping her…-? What if it was another trap? Or worse? But she nodded, willing to go to any length to get Malachite back. Kite was all she had in this damned world, and she would be damned if she didn’t take the opportunity now.

So, Lapis braved a deep breath. “... Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Skinny shrugged, watching as Lapis started to open up the window.

_ Hang on, Kite. I’m coming for you. _


End file.
